Sheet pile section

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a sheet pile section for erecting partly or continuously double-walled sheet piles comprising a web and two flanges welded to said web and projecting on either side of said web, each flange-end being designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, wherein the improvement resides in that the flanges are provided with the same wall thickness over their total extension and with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and bent back towards the web. This section, the web width of which may be freely chosen, is capable of absorbing great axial forces and bending moments. Also, it is capable of exercising high resistance moments with respect to its weight.

United States Patent Wogerbauer Nov. 21, 1972 [54] SHEET PILE SECTIDN FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [72] Inventor: Alfred Wogerbau L nz, Austria 1,460,431 1966 France ..6l/60 [73] Assignee: Vereinigte Osterreichische Eisenund g gi S mhlwe rke Akuengeseuschafl Linz reat rltain Austria 953,577 1949 France ..52/729 [22] Filed: Feb. 26, 1971 Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro [2]] A l N 1 9 8 Attorney-Brumbaugh, Graves, Donohue & Raymond [57] ABSTRACT Foreign Applicflfifln Bill The invention relates to a sheet pile section for erecting partly or continuously double-walled sheet piles March 4, I970 Austria ..2002 comprising a web and two flanges welded to Said web and projecting on either side of said web, each flange- [52] us. Cl .mlso, 6H6] end being designed as one half of a connecting lock [51] Int. Cl. ..E02d 5/04, EO2d 5/08 f interlocking h an j m section, wherein the [53] Field Of Search 61, 53, 52/729 improvement resides in that the flanges are provided with the same wall thickness over their total extension [56] References Cited and with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and bent back towards the web. This sec- UNITED STATES PATENTS tion, the web width of which may be freely chosen, is 932,230 8/1909 Zister ..6ll60 f: f;';: giggi g}. 3

22:2: 235 sistance moments with respect to its weight. 1:068:178 7/1913 Skinner ..6l/60 9 Claims, 21 Drawing Figures SHEET FILE SECTION The invention relates to a sheet pile section for erecting partly or continuously double-walled sheet piles comprising a web and two flanges, each flange welded with said web to project on either side thereof, each flange-end being designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section.

Sheet piles have been used for a long time in water engineering for building bank protecting structures and in engineering below ground for damming trenches; recently it has been begun to use sheet piles to an increasing degree also for traffic structures, such as deep streets, subway crossings, walls in underground galleries and the like. For higher stresses either partly or continuously double-walled sheet piles are used which are also called mixed sheet piles or box-type sheet piles.

The individual sheet pile sections forming the sheet pile may be connected at their flange-ends by insert connections, so-called connecting locks, which are formed either exclusively by the flange-ends or comprise a separately produced part, a so-called lock steel. The flange ends may be designed to be hook-shaped in which case the flange-ends of neighboring sheet piles may engage with each other, or a flange-end may be provided with a dove-tail-shaped groove into which a ridged flange-end of an adjacent section may be inserted. Such connecting locks which are formed by the flange-ends are used for connecting sheet pile sections with two flange-ends, such as C- or Z-sections, from which single-walled sheet piles are produced. However, it is not possible, to erect continuously double-walled sheet piles by means of such sheet pile sections. In fact, double-walled sheet piles have to be made of sections comprising a web and two flanges projecting on both sides of the web, such as lor H-sections. For production-technological reasons it had been possible so far only to connect such sections with four flange-ends by means of separately produced, 1- or H-shaped lock steels with dovetail-shaped grooves into which grooves the flange-ends of neighboring sheet pile sections may be inserted.

Connecting locks with separate lock steels have severe disadvantages as compared to connecting locks which are exclusively formed out of the flange-ends of 5 the sheet pile sections. When the sheet piles are erected the number of the plug-in connections to be formed is doubled owing to the additional use of the separate lock steels. The compactness of the sheet pile is impaired by the greater number of plug-in connections. The greater expenditure for manufacturing the lock steels and the erection of the sheet pile is not compensated by any advantages.

Sheet pile sections comprising a web and two flanges projecting on both sides of the web, such as lor H-sections, so far have been produced in one piece by hot rolling. However, for roll technological reasons it has not been possible to shape lor H-sections with webs of any desired height or thickness, nor has it been possible to form the flange-ends in a manner as to permit their connection without the use of separately rolled lock steels.

During piling, sheet pile sections have to be capable of absorbing great axial forces and when used as a bank border, great bending moments. Furthermore they should be designed for high resistance moments with respect to their weight. This aim can be achieved only when the height of the web is chosen as great as possible while the wall thickness of the web is reduced to the greatest permissible degree. However, when the sections are produced by hot rolling there are technological limits to increasing the height and reducing the wall thickness of the web, as has been pointed out before. Thus, it is neither economically feasible nor technologi' cally permissible to hot roll 1- or H-sections with great web heights, i.e. such of more than 700 mm, in one piece.

So far, relatively few sheet pile section shapes have had to suffice because switch of a production plant to an other sheet pile section has been highly expensive and because for each variant an individual, expensive set of shaping rolls has been necessary.

The invention is aimed at avoiding the described disadvantages and difficulties and, in a sheet pile section for erecting partly or continuously double-walled sheet piles, comprising a web and two flanges each connected with said web to project on either side thereof, each flange end being designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, resides in that the flanges are provided with the same wall thickness over their total extension and with hookshaped ends formed by cold roll bending and bent back towards the web.

Advantageously, the lock halves are formed on flanges having, in longitudinal direction of the section, a corrugation which faces the web with its convex side and forms the welding seam with the web.

The flanges and, if desired, the web may be profiled to be fluted. Furthermore it is possible that the flange ends lying opposite to each other relative to the web plane are bent back in different directions.

The web may be eccentrically connected to the flanges so that, with respect to the web plane, an asymmetrical section is formed which is, for example, similar to the form of a C or Z, one lock half of a flange being close to the web and the other remote from the web. In that case, it is suitable that between the web and the bent-in margin of the lock half which is close to the web a gap is provided, the width of which corresponds at least to the thickness of the flange and maximally to the length of the bent-in hook end. Such asymmetrically formed sheet pile sections may more easily be plugged together and piled into the ground. When the sheet pile is erected the two lock halves remote from the web are interlocked with the two lock halves close to the web. Owing to the resilient yield of the lock halves remote from the web to the rigid lock halves close to he web, an easy-slip guidance is achieved. Owing to the small width of the gap between the bent-in end of the lock half close to the web and the web, a satisfactory locking of the sections is moreover achieved. Furthermore, it thus becomes possible to simplify the shape of the lock parts formed integral with the flanges and thus to simplify rolling of the flanges.

A suitable method for producing the sheet pile sections according to the invention is characterized in that out of three strips a web sheet and two flange sheets with bent-in ends are formed by cold shaping, whereupon the formed presections are simultaneously and continuously connected by two longitudinal seams applied between the ends of the web sheet and the faces of the flange sheets to obtain the finished sheet pile sec- IIOI'I.

In a sheet pile part comprising at least one sheet pile section according to the invention the sheet pile section may be plugged together with two sheet pile planks of known construction to form a triple section and fixed, if desired, by tack welding seams. By piling such prefabricated sheet pile parts, the erection of sheet piles is simplified and speeded up.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood embodiments thereof shall now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 12 show various sheet pile sections in cross section; FIGS. 13 to 20 illustrate sheet pile parts incorporating sheet pile sections according to the invention.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an I-shaped sheet pile section 1 comprising four flange ends 3 which are bent inwardly, i.e. towards the web 2, to be hook-shaped, each of these hook-shaped bent-in flange ends forming a lock half and serving for receiving a correspondingly formed lock half 3', drawn in dashes, of a neighboring sheet pile section 4. The margin of a bent-in flange end 3 lies at such a distance from the web 2 that an interlocking effect is achieved when the lock halves 3, 3' are caught in engagement with each other. Thus it is possible to connect sheet pile sections with each other which are not provided with cranked lock halves.

FIG. 2 shows an I-shaped sheet pile section 6, the flange ends 3 of which are bent in like manner as in the embodiment according to FIG. 1. As compared to the sheet pile section 1 a difference resides in that the flanges are provided with a corrugation 7 extending in longitudinal direction of the section, i.e. the flanges with the bent-in ends have an about hat-shaped profile, the corrugation being turned towards the web 2 with its convex side and forming with the web the welding seam 8. The interlocking effect relative to the lock half 3' of a neighboring section 4 is not achieved by a web part but by a wall of the corrugation 7.

FIG. 3 illustrates an H-shaped sheet pile section 9 which differs from the l-shaped section according to FIG. 2 only by flanges which were broadened by the measure a but is otherwise identical with the section of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 depicts an I-shaped sheet pile section 11, in which the flange ends are bent outwardly to be hook-shaped, in contrast to the flange ends of FIG. 1. For a connection with the lock half 3' of an adjacent sheet pile 4 the lock half 3' has to be cranked, as indicated at 12.

FIG. 5 shows an H-shaped sheet pile section 13, similar to that according to FIG. 4, but the flange parts 10 are broadened. This section too necessitates lock halves 3' with deflections.

In FIG. 6 an I-I-shaped sheet pile section 14 is illustrated, similar to that shown in FIG. 5, but its flanges are profiled with grooves. The grooves are denoted with numeral 15. They are produced by cold shaping of the sheet and effect a strainhardening and reinforcement in longitudinal direction.

In FIG. 6a an H-shaped sheet pile section 14a is illustrated, similar to that shown in FIG. 6 except the web is fluted as well as the flanges.

The sheet pile sections according to FIGS. 1 to 6a, which were explained so far are symmetrical both relative to the x-axis and relative to the y-axis.

FIG. 7 shows an H-shaped sheet pile section 16, the flanges 10 of which are asymmetrical relative to the yaxis. They are provided with an inwardly bent-in flange end 3 and an outwardly bent flange end 3a forming lock halves for connection with a neighboring section. The flange parts with lock halves bent outwardly are provided with deflections 12. A further feature of the sheet pile section according to FIG. 7 resides in that, in the center of the flange, groove-shaped corrugations 7 are provided which form the welding seam together with the web. A further groove 17 is provided in the flange part with the inwardly bent lock half 3. The lock halves of the sheet pile section are formed in a manner that into the outwardly directed lock halves 3a of the section the inwardly directed lock halves 3' of an identical section 16' may be introduced, so that the erection of continuously double-walled sheet piles of only one type of sheet pile section is possible.

FIG. 8 shows a sheet pile section 18 of approximately C-shaped crosssection, each flange being provided with an inwardly bent end 3 and an outwardly bent end 30. The inwardly directed lock half 3 is arranged close to the web, a gap 19 remaining between the bent-in margin and the web 2, the width of said gap corresponding to at least the thickness of the flange and maximally to the length of the bent-in hook end. The outwardly directed lock halves 3a are arranged at a greater distance from the web 2, so as to provide the flange 10' with a certain resilience. When neighboring sections 18 are connected by piling into the ground this embodiment affords considerable advantages because the lock halves 3a remote from the web may be easily fitted into the rigid lock halves 3 close to the web of the adjacent section.

In FIG. 9 a sheet pile section 20 of approximately Z- shaped cross-section is illustrated whose flanges are designed in the same way as those of the sheet pile section according to FIG. 8, i.e. it possesses lock halves 3a which are remote from the web and outwardly directed and lock halves 3 which are close to the web and inwardly directed. The sheet pile section according to FIG. 9 is asymmetrical with regard to the x-axis but centrally symmetrical with regard to the point Z.

FIG. 10 illustrates a possibility for the formation of special sections 21 comprising lock halves 3 which are inwardly directed and close to the web and lock halves 3b which are directed upwardly and downwardly, respectively, i.e. in the direction of the web height. A special section 21 serves in connection with adjoining sections 4, 4' and 18 for producing T-shaped branches in a box-type sheet pile.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show on an enlarged scale how the lock halves of two neighboring sheet pile sections are interlocking with each other, the distance between the margin 5 of the flange end 3 and the web 2 being somewhat greater than the flange thickness, but somewhat smaller than the bent-in part 3' of the adjacent section. Thus, a satisfactory guiding is achieved when a section is fitted and rammed into a section that is already piled into the ground.

FIGS. 13 to 20 show as examples how, by combinations of various sheet pile sections, sheet pile forms may be obtained which meet the different requirements.

FIG. 13 shows a sectional view of a triple section comprising an I-shaped sheet pile section 1 and two hat-shaped sheet planks 4. The three mentioned component sections are suitably connected with each other e.g. by means of welding seams S.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view of a double section comprising two sheet pile sections 22 resembling a C-shape. Double sections may, for example, also be composed of two H-sections 16 or sections 20 similar to Z-shape. By applying pre-fabricated double or triple sections the erection of sheet piles may be simplified.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show sheet pile parts erected from Hshaped sheet pile sections 23 and from sheet pile sec tions shown in FIG. 9, respectively.

FIG. 17 illustrates part of a sheet pile set together from sheet pile sections 1 and planks 4.

FIG. 18 shows a part of a sheet pile formed from sheet pile sections 1 and 22 and the planks 4.

FIG. 19 shows a sheet pile part which is made exclusively from the sheet pile sections 1 and planks 24 with inwardly and outwardly bent flange ends.

FIG. 20 shows part of a sheet pile which is formed from the planks 24 and H-shaped sheet pile sections 25.

Sheet piles made of the lor I-I-shaped sheet pile sections according to FIGS. 1 to 3 and hat-shaped planks of known kind are particularly advantageous. Furthermore it is of special advantage to erect box-type sheet piles from the sheet pile sections according to FIG. 8. Owing to the fact that the web height may be greatly varied and increased, box-type sheet piles having resistance moments of more than 20 000 cm may be erected so that new application fields for sheet piles are opened up.

What I claim is:

l. A sheet pile section for erecting sheet piles which are at least in part double-walled, comprising a web sheet formed by cold rolling and two flanges, each flange welded to an end of the web sheet to project on either side thereof and having flange ends each designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, the flanges having the same sheet thickness over their total extension and being provided with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and are bent back towards the web.

2. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein each flange has in longitudinal direction thereof a corrugation, the corrugation facing the web with its convex side and the web sheet being welded to the flanges along the corrugation.

3. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the flanges are fluted to provide reinforcement of the longitudinal direction.

4. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the flanges and the web are fluted to provide greater reinforcement.

5. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the web is eccentrically welded with the flanges so that, with respect to the web plane, an asymmetrical section is formed, one lock half of each flange being close to the web and the other remote from the web to provide resilience to the section when being joined with a rigid adjoining section.

. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1 wherein the web is eccentrically welded with the flanges so that, with respect to the web plane, an asymmetrical section is formed, one lock half of each flange being close to the web and the other remote from the web, a gap being provided between the web and the bent back margin of the lock half which is close to the web, the width of said gap corresponding at least to the thickness of the flange and maximally to the length of the bent hook-shaped flange end, the flange part and lock half remote from the web being bent outwardly to lock with another pile section in a plane generally parallel to the web.

7. A sheet pile part having a double wall comprising at least one sheet pile section including a web and two flanges of uniform sheet thickness, each flange welded to and projecting from either side of said web and provided with hook-shaped, bent back ends, and two sheet pile planks, each sheet plank provided with hookshaped bent ends, each of the ends of the flanges on one side of the web being hooked with the end of a sheet plank to form a double-walled pile part.

8. The sheet pile part set forth in claim 7, wherein the sheet pile section and said two interlocking sheet pile planks are tack welded.

9. A sheet pile section for erecting sheet piles which are at least in part double-walled comprising a web and two flanges, each flange welded to said web to project on either side thereof and having flange ends each designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, the flanges having the same sheet thickness over their total extension and being provided with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and bent back towards the web, the flange ends lying opposite to each other relative to the web plane and bent back in different directions.

l I l 

1. A sheet pile section for erecting sheet piles which are at least in part double-walled, comprising a web sheet formed by cold rolling and two flanges, each flange welded to an end of the web sheet to project on either side thereof and having flange ends each designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, the flanges having the same sheet thickness over their total extension and being provided with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and are bent back towards the web.
 1. A sheet pile section for erecting sheet piles which are at least in part double-walled, comprising a web sheet formed by cold rolling and two flanges, each flange welded to an end of the web sheet to project on either side thereof and having flange ends each designed as one half of a connecting lock for interlocking with an adjacent section, the flanges having the same sheet thickness over their total extension and being provided with hook-shaped ends which are formed by cold roll bending and are bent back towards the web.
 2. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein each flange has in longitudinal direction thereof a corrugation, the corrugation facing the web with its convex side and the web sheet being welded to the flanges along the corrugation.
 3. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the flanges are fluted to provide reinforcement of the longitudinal direction.
 4. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the flanges and the web are fluted to provide greater reinforcement.
 5. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1, wherein the web is eccentrically welded with the flanges so that, with respect to the web plane, an asymmetrical section is formed, one lock half of each flange being close to the web and the other remote from the web to provide resilience to the section when being joined with a rigid adjoining section.
 6. The sheet pile section set forth in claim 1 wherein the web is eccentrically welded with the flanges so that, with respect to the web plane, an asymmetrical section is formed, one lock half of each flange being close to the web and the other remote from the web, a gap being provided between the web and the bent back margin of the lock half which is close to the web, the width of said gap corresponding at least to the thickness of the flange and maximally to the length of the bent hook-shaped flange end, the flange part and lock half remote from the web being bent outwardly to lock with another pile section in a plane generally parallel to the web.
 7. A sheet pile part having a double wall comprising at least one sheet pile section including a web and two flanges of uniform sheet thickness, each flange welded to and projecting from either side of said web and provided with hook-shaped, bent back ends, and two sheet pile planks, each sheet plank provided with hook-shaped bent ends, each of the ends of the flanges on one side of the web being hooked with the end of a sheet plank to form a double-walled pile part.
 8. The sheet pile part set forth in claim 7, wherein the sheet pile section and said two interlocking sheet pile planks are tack welded. 